Local Food Links

For sale: one mobile slaughterhouse unit

posted Jan 9, 2012, 12:38 PM by Torrey Carroll Smith

Iron-stomached entrepreneurs, has the state of Vermont got an offer for you. The state’s mobile slaughter house is up for sale, and
interested buyers can place bids at the online auction house being used
to sell the unit.

Officially known as the “Vermont Agency of Agriculture
Mobile Poultry Processing Unit,” the portable rig has a daily processing
capacity of 250 chickens or 100 turkeys.

The unit – it looks a little bit like a windowless single-wide –
had been under lease by Spring Hill Poultry, but the owner there has
decided not to renew. The agency is making the hard sell in a press release fired off to news outlets yesterday:

“With the market for locally produced poultry and rabbit continuing
to rise, this piece of infrastructure offers a great business
opportunity,” the release promises.

The state commissioned the trailer-sized unit in 2008, matching
$93,000 in state money with a grant from the Castanea Foundation. State
officials apparently want to unload the thing for good now, though the
Agency of Agriculture will offer ongoing trouble-shooting assistance to
whoever buys it.

The mobile unit can be docked at farms or fairgrounds, or any other place with decent numbers of slaughter-ready poultry.

To check it out in person, head over to the north end of the
Waterbury State Complex parking lot sometime between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
on Wednesday, Jan. 11. RSVPs would be appreciated, and you can do so by
contacting Chelsea Bardot Lewis at (802) 828-3360, or
chelsea.lewis@state.vt.us.